United Nations evacuation flights are set to land in Panama City this week as the international organization removes staff from Haiti due to a sharp escalation in violence by armed gangs that have expanded their control over the capital Port-au-Prince.

There are reports that the United Nations is evacuating a small number of staff in Haiti as gang violence escalates in Port-au-Prince. More than 40,000 people have been displaced from the capital in the last ten days according to U.

Since January, nearly five thousand civilian deaths have occurred as a result of relentless gang warfare in Port-au-Prince, the country’s capital city, and its immediate environs. The country itself has slid into a catastrophic humanitarian emergency,